The Stage

This is an open discussion forum for users to discuss WebRing features, wishes, thoughts, etc. QUESTIONS about and PROBLEMS with the System should be posted in detail using the support forums in Help. Negative, derogatory or personal comments will be deleted. Sadly, due to spamming and anonymous trashing of other users we have had to restrict posting to signed in members.

Sponsored Links

A few permanent posts to illustrate the feature

Re (3403): Nav bar NEXT goes to hub page.

Thanks. Knocking the cookie security down from medium to low in the interne

Re (3401): Nav bar NEXT goes to hub page.

Two possible reasons:
1. you're site is not asctive in the ring currently

can't upload logos?

Is there a problem with logo uploading? When is the best time to upload?

Did you notice that Webring backed off on something, sort of?
- 10/02/2006The transition plan has been changed.

Reading through it very late last night, I found a trap hidden in the fine print for anybody taking the "wait and see" approach they've been recommending. "What can it hurt to wait?" Well ...

The way the plan was described, while your number of ring memberships and the number of rings you managed would be dropped to the maximum allowed at your membership level on January 15, the charges for those services would begin accruing on October 15 (I think it was), three months sooner. This would mean that if you were in the position of the ringmaster (lilithgalery?) who concluded that holding onto all rings would cost $700/year, you might find yourself being presented with a bill for a quarter of that - $175.00 - being sent to you for your "free" membership.

It gets better. Under the laws of most states, if a bill is sent to you and you don't respond, after a certain amount of time passes the bill becomes automatically collectable, no matter how nonmeritorious the claim it represents would have otherwise been. What this represented, then, was a shakedown hidden in the fine print, not just of the ringmasters, but of a great many regular members in Webring as well.

Maybe Webring suspected (correctly) that they were about to get called on this, because looking at the transition plan now, I find that this charming feature has now been removed from it.

Replied
- 10/02/2006(Continuing) One can also find a statement about how Webring values its "experienced ring managers" many of whom have been running many rings for years, they say - close enough in phrasing to comments made in this forum, that this should be read as being a responsive press release, an attempt to do damage control in reply to what they are seeing here. Plainly, Webring is reading this discussion and they do know that there's a problem.

What they don't seem to know is what the problem is. Holding my hand while you try to shove a knife into my back is a tricky maneuver, but not one that earns my respect and certainly not one that earns my trust. The question that we should be pondering and maybe worrying about a little is "what are you guys going to try to slip past us, next". For all we know, the moment this firestorm becomes old news and our attention starts to waver, they're going to slip that little surprise back into the transition plan, or do something worse.

My advice to all, and not just ringmasters - if they're going to play it like this, seriously consider abandoning ship. How are your finances? Do you want to get socked with a bill like that? As time allows, I'm going to remove all webring code from the Almond Jar and all affiliated sites. This might cost me a few hits per day, but as site stats report that I saw about a quarter of a million of them over the last year, I might live. For generating traffic, one can do a lot better than to buy what these guys are selling, and generally speaking one can do it for free with a lot less grief.

Replied
- 10/02/2006The whole idea of the transition period is for those members that wish to choose a Premium Level may do so between now and January 15, 2007, receive a discount on the initial membership and not have to pay the over-level limits for the first year. However, if a member signs up now for a Premium Level, that member will still earn full Affilate Program benefits.

For those of you with the initial reserve amount in your account (also reduced if you sign up before January 15, 2007), you will not be required to send in extra funds. For those of you that do not have sufficient credit at this time, you need only invite one or two new members to the system to earn the reserve amount or actively promote your ring so that members will feature their sites in your ring which again earns you credit. The majority of you were already actively looking for new, unique members for your rings and featuring sites. In effect, we are not asking you to do anything on the system you were not already doing.